caribbean. it's now the east coast bracing for danger from what could become a superstorm. tragedy and horror. a mother returns home to find to her apartment to find that her two young children have been stabbed to death. police say it was the nanny. and controversy this morning over a romney campaign adviser's comments. here's what he said. >> when you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether that was an endorsement based on issues. >> it's friday october 26th, "starting point" begins right now. our starting point this morning is hurricane sandy. it's targeting the northeast, threatening to become what they call a perfect storm. from new england to virginia, as far inland as ohio, already people are being warned to get ready. it's a rare atmospheric condition that has forecasters fearing that sandy could collide with the east coast sometime early next week and that would make it a devastating superstorm. the hurricane's already done

tons of damage. 11 people dead in cuba. sandy ripping off the roofs of homes, flattening other homes al to the. the storm killed one person in jamaica. nine other people killed in haiti. heavy rains from the storm's outer bands have unleashed devastating flooding. although the hurricane is still several days away from the united states east coast, sandbagging is already under way as far north as new jersey. meet oreologist rob marciano is tracking sandy's every move. we're getting already dire warnings, really serious red flags about this storm. tell me exactly what's happening that makes it, you know, worse than what they call the perfect storm. >> well, the perfect storm never made landfall for one thing. this one looks like it's going to make landfall. that's what makes it worse. the setup is somewhat similar, we have a hurricane that's moving north and a strong cold front with a strong jet stream energy that's moving in from the west. and this morning, more than ever, we're getting more confidence that it going to make landfall. how big and how strong it's going to be, we don't know. but it looks like it's going to

get stronger. northwesterly moving at 13 miles an hour. still battering the bahamas. doesn't look like a typical hurricane. it will begin to transform itself. and these computer -- these lines are -- indicate our computer model. more of them this morning are now indicating they're going to make landfall across the east coast. here's the official forecast track, from the national hurricane center. big waves by the way. forget about the path here for the folks who live in north carolina, south carolina and florida. big waves will be pounding the coastline there for several days. huge beach erosion and flooding. there's your forecast. the wind field with this thing is going to be very, very large. so you look at this, category 1, and you know, atlantic city, we've had worse. not necessarily, because the wind field with this is going to be so big it's going to impact hundreds of miles of coastline and tens of millions of people. a long duration wind event. power lines. be prepared to be without power. big-time coastal flooding. even on the backside of this, soledad. a decent amount of snow for the folks who live in the mountains

of west virginia. it's got it all. >> and what are we looking at now, when it hits? >> looks like monday night into tuesday. but if it stays offshore and goes a little bit farther to the north, it would be tuesday night into wednesday. the time is now really to start preparing your home for the potential of having to deal with this storm for several days and maybe being without power for several days. >> this is the weekend to make preparations. rob marciano following for us. thank you, appreciate it. another devastating story that we're following this morning, absolutely horror. a mother came home to her apartment in new york city and two of her three children had been stabbed in their manhattan bathtub. their nanny was also in a pool of blood nearby. investigators now say the nanny is the person who killed the kids and then tried to kill herself. just a few hours later a post on the mother's blog painted a very happy picture of the family. this is one of the most horrific stories and a huge why. why, what happened?

>> and that's exactly the question. and the only thing you can think about this mom and this dad, right, this morning, is heartbreak. their hearts have to be broken right now. the murder of two young children allegedly by their nanny has taken parents across new york city. it has frightened many caregivers. everyone asking what caused this nanny to apparently snap and allegedly stab two children before slashing heir own throat? the children's mother, 38-year-old marina krim, returned home with her 3-year-old daughter around dinner time, only to find the apartment dark. well the doorman told her the nanny and 6-year-old lucia and 2-year-old leo were still inside. the mother discovered her beloved children in the bathtub soaked in blood, stabbed multiple times, the nanny on the floor, a kitchen knife next to her. police saying it appeared she had repeatedly stabbed herself in the throat. neighbors called 911 after hearing the dissfraut mother's screams. the father, kevin krim, is a media executive at cnbc. he was on his way home at a business trip. he was met at the airport by police and taken to the hospital

where his children had been pronounced dead. the mom did keep a blog. it was called life with the krim kids. you see photos of the children, happy, smiling, living life near central park. one entry, by the mom, just hours earlier, hours before this tragedy, she wrotes, leo speaks in the most adorable way possible. firstly, he speaks super clearly so you can understand every word he is saying. he does things like want fresh bagel and did ito when he wants cold milk. never uses no alone. always paired with thank you. these are just snapshots of this life and what resonates about this tragedy, for so many is the leap of faith parents take when they entrust their children to someone else. reports say the family only hired this nanly after the third child was born. the nanny, 50-year-old yoselyn ortega from the dominican republic. she is in critical condition. she has been arrested but she's not been charged.

it's not clear whether police have had an opportunity to question her. they tried to question the mother last night but the mother was inconsolable. she had to be sedated. >> the baby that she's writing about on the blog is 1 year old. >> just turned 2. they went pumpkin picking, yeah. >> and there was an older child killed as well, who was 6. >> correct. >> and the mother was out with the 3-year-old. >> apparently at swimming lessons. whether the other two children were supposed to meet them there, whether she left them behind so they could be bathed and have dinner ready, you know, it's a snapshot of life. around the country, really. >> i had read that the family was had a very close relationship with their, with their nanny. that they had been to the dommen conrepublic right to visit her family? >> that's exactly right. that's what's so amazing. a lot of families in new york city they vet their caregivers very, very carefully. you're inviting somebody into your home to watch over your kids. to make sure that they're like another parent, you know, for

these children. >> everybody worries about what they call a stranger, raising your children. and so i find that very interesting. >> that's exactly right. you know, so many nannies become part of the family. they become part of the home. so, this is just tragic. >> hmm goodness. terrible. deb feyerick, thank you for that report. john berman has a look at some of the other stories we're following. >> thanks, soledad. violence in northern afghanistan. a suicide bombing outside a mosque there has killed 40 people and afghan police say that includes fellow officers and children. dozens of others were injured, and the interior ministry spokesman said the bomber struck right after morning prayers. pakistani teen malala yousafzai is back in the arms of her mom and dad. they arrived in britain just hours ago. her father telling reporters malala is, quote, everyone's daughter. the 15-year-old girl is in a hospital recovering from a gunshot wound to the head inflicted by the taliban. malala has become a symbol of courage for risking her life by demanding equal education for girls in pakistan. a widening fungal meningitis

outbreak has now killed 24 americans and sickened 323 others. nine of those deaths occurring in tennessee. health officials are hoping the outbreak will peak soon. of the 14,000 patients who received potentially tainted stare oid injections, 97% have been reached for follow-up visits. two down two to go for the san francisco giants. they held their home field advantage with a 2-0 shutout of the tigers last night. the series now moves to the tigers comerica park. you're looking at prince fielder being thrown out at the plate. probably should not have been waved home. anyway. game three tomorrow night in detroit. it is actually a statement of fact. baseball fans around america right now agreeing with me, probably a good idea to keep prince fielder at third on that play. 2-0, giants, detroit tomorrow night. >> i'm happy. >> thank you for the update. we want to bring in the newark mayor cory booker. he's joining us for the entire

hour this morning. i want to start with the, the really dire forecast we were just listening to from rob marciano who is talking about this very wide wind field and even though the storm that they're looking at, hurricane sandy, which is category 1, a lot of people think of category 1 on the low side, that's probably not as bad, he says that this is shaping up to be something very, very devastating. >> last year we had an ice storm come through, knocking out power in parts of new jersey, including my city, for days and days. this is the worst timing for a storm. you have fall and there's a lot of loose branches. so the storm itself will be bad. but i worry about the aftermath. people being caught without power. and when you have power outages, it's not just your ice cream is going to spoil. there are people with medical conditions. elderly. a lot of people rely on power, it's getting colder and colder. so this could be really serious. i've been screaming out on twitter and facebook this morning, now is the time to prepare. take the weekend, buy supplies.

get batteries. really prepare for the worst. it's better to be prepared for a crisis and not have one, than have a crisis and not be prepared. >> let's talk a little bit about politics. new "washington post"/abz tracking poll is showing governor romney with a three-point edge but within that margin of error. that poll right there. then if you look at the swing state poll, i don't know, at this point are you, do you just every morning wake up and go through polls? >> no. >> really? >> absolutely not. >> you don't care what the polls say? let me run through the others and then we'll talk about them. nevada there's a lead for president obama 50% to 47% for governor romney. colorado is tied up. thanks to governor romney gaining five points there. fox news poll shows governor romney up by two in the state of virginia. there are only eight true battleground states. you don't sort of say every morning, here's how we're doing by how much in every one of these critical states? >> you know, look, i think the key now, these are such small percentage points and they're within the margins of error that this campaign is going to be all about turnout. and so as i travel around, you

know, i was just in pennsylvania, what i keep telling people is don't listen to the noise. either whether it's obama's three points ahead or a point behind. the reality is is that this election is going to be about do people show up to the polls. is there that enthusiasm? are folks coming out? so this is a time that such a close election that this could be very distracts. what people should do, believe in their candidate. remember there's a lot of down ballot tickets, very important, where the senate is going 237 critical house seats, as well. all these elections are going to turn about making sure that the candidates you believe in, you should get out there and vote for them and bring people. >> are you finding people more enthusiastic? not long ago i did a panel with a bunch of moms for parents magazine and really i was getting the overriding feel this is months ago now was sort of like, eh about this election. >> first of all the thing i find interesting to me as i travel around, you know, take pennsylvania for example, is that there's a dramatic difference between the obama campaign and the romney campaign.

in a substantive way. the obama campaign had over 50 campaign headquarters in the field. 54 i think to be exact. the romney campaign had only a fraction. one campaign is really relying in my opinion on campaign ads and the like. and i have not seen, four years ago i did not see the kind of sophistication and voter targeting, neighbors talking to neighbors and get out the vote operation. that's why i feel very confident right now that the obama campaign is going to be doing a lot to push voters out. what i'm hoping that this election is a testimony to is an enthusiasm is more generated, less from these campaign ads and frankly i've started to just tune out now. and more from people, voter to voter, getting people excite and pulling them out to the polls. i'm hoping this is a campaign that shows there's a diminishing return on the millions of dollars in corporate contributions and the best way to win a campaign is about on the ground, mobilizing people person to person. >> let me ask you about john sununu. we like to call him a friend of the show here at on "starting point." he was being interviewed by

piers morgan and he was talking about colin powell's endorsement of president obama. want to play a little bit of what governor sununu told piers. >> and frankly, what you take a look at colin powell you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama. >> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that you're proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> what do you think? what do you think he meant by that? because as he walked back the statements later and i'll read those in a minute, but, but -- >> whether he meant it or not it was a statement that is unfortunate, and is just reflects a lack of understanding and sensitivity. he's got himself in a jam. he's going to wear that jam for awhile. the one thing i don't like about our political culture is we take one person's comments, stupid or not, and then we just try to spread it out and lay over everything. mitt romney didn't say this.

you know so it's for me just a dumb comment. it's unfortunately something that's worth talking about because he's still in america. >> you don't think it matters that someone who represents the campaign, i mean if you had someone representing your campaign, and he said something would you, would you say this is not me he's not speaking for me -- >> the responsible thing to do is from a campaign to issue a -- their own comment clarifying, i think so. but i'm kind of just getting to the point where you see a lot of these surrogates. we could go for the entire -- >> i've got -- >> who say things because none of us, you know, say things and it just -- they become the story themselves. this is days before this election. really i hope what americans are is not the dumb racially tinged comments of an individual. there's too much at stake. there are larger issues. what are the plans and platform of candidates. >> you walked it back. i'm going to read that. colin powell he wrote he said in a statement is a friend, i

respect the endorsement decision he made. i do not doubt that it was based on anything but his support of the president's policies, hmm that's what he said. piers morgan's question was whether colin powell should leave the party and i don't think he should. he didn't quite answer that. >> again, it's a -- it's disrespectful and i hope he understands that. and it's unfortunate and we should talk about those issues and presumptions that so often exist. in this last days let's focus on the candidates themselves. what they are saying. >> all right, nice to see you. we're going to ask you to stick around all morning with us. we appreciate that. also this morning ahead -- >> -- yankee comment. >> cold -- >> unnecessary. >> that's the comment. >> see, see, he's got that thing. go for it. >> presidential candidates aren't the only ones who are touring battleground states. we'll tell you why members of teachers union are hitting the

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♪ ♪ that should do it. enjoy your new shower. [ door opens, closes ] welcome back, everybody. right now leaders and members of the large and powerful teachers union, the american federation of teachers, are in the midst of a bus tour. they're passing through florida and ohio and several other swing states trying to get out the vote for president obama. but, of course, teachers unions have long supported democratic candidates. they might feel like they're getting less in return, though. conservative education reformer michael petrilli has said, president obama has been much more reform minded than any democratic president before him. he really has co-opted the

republicans on many of their key education positions. joining us this morning from orlando is the president of the american feration of teachers, the aft, randi weingarten. thanks for talking with us this morning. >> always great to see you. >> i appreciate that. >> now from almost sandy-filled florida. >> let's talk about a little bit about what petrrill said which is he felt president obama was co-opting republican decisions when it comes to education. would you agree with that? >> you know, the president has, you know, focused on education a lot. starting with the stimulus bill, which was a life line for schools. as we were getting out of the greatest recession since the great depression. and there's parts of the president's education philosophy that, you know, we think are fantastic. and there are parts that we think need to be different. but this is the bottom line. this is a president who actually

crosses political parties to try to get things done. and that's part of the reason that teachers across the country, and parents across the country respect him. and the problem has been that the republicans have actually been rooting or some people in the congress have been rooting against him getting things done. but the bottom line is, this is a president that believes in investment in schools, and insuring their kids, all kids, get a great education, and is willing to try things. some of the things we think have worked and some of the things may not have worked, but he deserves a second term to ensure that all kids get a great education. >> some of those, the list of things that need to be different, you know, he advocates for teacher merit pay and you've just said pretty bluntly merit pay you don't think works. he supports removing limits on charter schools and pushed for teacher evaluations based on student scores. these are all things you're pretty firmly against. i think a lot of people would, what, what is governor romney's

positions that you take exception with that makes you think that president obama is better? >> well, this is, this is the bottom line, soledad. president obama actually believes in public schools. and actually believes that teachers should have a voice in public schools, and that kids should have the investment. he believes in lowering class size. he believes in making sure that public schools have the art and the music, and he's actually pretty clearly said stop the testing fixation. do we have to actually try new things like making sure that we have higher standards for all kids so that they're ready for the world that that that finds them so that we can rebuild the middle class, so we can actually have an economy and an education system that works together? absolutely. but that takes an investment. and what governor romney wants to do is basically an opt-out strategy. he's basically said, let's disinvest in education, i know he's said in front of the camera, i love teachers. but you can't -- >> it was the debate. -- >> at the debate. >> everybody suddenly -- >> you can't actually love teachers and actually -- and

actually say that their voice should not be heard. >> let me play that clip from governor romney that was at the debate. >> look, i love teachers. and i'm happy to have states and communities that want to hire teachers, do that. by the way, i don't like to have the federal government start pushing its way deeper and deeper into our schools. let the states and localities do that. i was a governor. the federal government didn't hire our teachers. >> his point is, listen, get the feds out of it. let the states do it. is he wrong about that? >> look, he's wrong about that because of what the federal government really does. and then, look, governor romney has a binder of ideas. a lot of them are bad ideas. and a lot of them don't understand what education is all about or the federal role is all about. what was the federal role in education? it was to actually try to create equity for kids who were falling behind, for kids who were poor. that's what johnson did initially when he created title i. and so those dollars, those

federal dollars, go to communities that really needed the money. they go to kids that come to school hungry. they go to kids that need to have after-school activities. and those dollars are really important in those communities. if we actually want to help all kids learn, we need to have those dollars to lower class sizes for the kids that need it most. so the bottom line here is, president obama wants to make sure that teachers are respected. president obama wants to make sure that there's an investment in schools. do we want to make sure that we try different things so that we're actually helping all kids succeed? sure. will we try different things? whether they're a republican or a democratic idea? of course. education should not be, you know, unipartisan. it should be bipartisan. >> randi weingarten the president of the american federation of teachers in orlando today. nice to see you. >> it's great to be here. >> ahead this morning on "starting point," they say beauty is painless.

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welcome back. "starting point." we're talking to mayor cory booker who's agreed to stick around for the whole hour. also joining us britain lizz ap. will cain, john berman sticking around since "early start." let's go our get real this morning. san francisco massage parlor is offering this. a beauty treatment that involves slapping you in the face. >> all right. >> stick around? >> looks like -- >> and allegedly it's going to make your wrinkles look smaller,

it will firm up the skin. it costs $350 to have someone do this to your face, and for $1,000 you can get a full course. you can have different styles, face slappings so that you look like a celebrity. face slapping to look younger. face slapping to charm your significant other. come here -- for $500. i'll give you -- >> come here, come here. he's so afraid. i'm going to -- >> i'll -- >> i'm not slapping you, sir, it's a face massage. >> you missed the mayor's joke. >> yes. >> it's early in the morning. >> way too early in the morning. >> no filters. >> did you say $350 for that wonderful treatment? >> could you imagine? >> i was going to say --

>> -- good idea. >> that looks ridiculous. >> i think the mayor should step in and put an end to it. >> this wouldn't go down in newark. >> there's a lot of massages offered out regularly in my city and many others. >> oh, okay. anyway. >> -- somewhere right. >> and we're moving on. >> or let's -- >> no. move on. >> for: 00 i'll do a face slap. ahead on "starting point," concerns over voter fraud for more than 20,000 ballots that are at stake in the state of florida. what caused it and why the solution is raising some eyebrows, straight ahead. and then the storm has already killed 11 people in the caribbean. hurricane sandy is on a potential track to the east coast and we're told it has all the ingredients of a superstorm. about your favorite flavors. so when you call, tweet, and post, we listen. that's why yoplait light and yoplait original

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morning, welcome back everybody. from new england to virginia millions of americans are beginning to prepare for what looks like will be a superstorm. it's called hurricane sandy. already 21 people in the caribbean are dead. the east coast of the u.s. is squarely in the hurricane sights. this is a view of sandy from outer space packing sustained winds at this hour of 85 miles an hour off the coast of miami. looking more and more likely that the northeast will be slammed by this storm and that it's going to happen sometime early next week. let's get right to rob marciano tracking the hurricane for us in the extreme weather center in atlanta. good morning. >> good morning, soledad. an extraordinary event no doubt about it. first of all to have a hurricane this strong this late in the season and then make its way up the eastern seaboard. that's unusual. let's talk about it. 80-mile-per-hour winds right now, just a category 1. but we shouldn't say just because it's probably going to be a category 1 or similar to when it makes land fall but it's

going to transform into something really much bigger than that. about 200 miles or so east of miami. they're getting hit with wind and rain and some waves. and big waves are going to be rolling up the coastline from florida up through the carolinas and really up through the main coastline as well. we could see waves topping 30 or 40 footer. there's your forecast track. the national hurricane center, saturday night into sunday we stay a couple hundred miles off the coastline of the carolinas. cape hatteras, outer banks really going to get pummeled with pounding waves here. then turn it back towards the northeast. at this time yesterday we weren't that confident with it. a lot of our computer models, most of them really, have turned it this way. we're getting more confident in the scenario. the question is how big, how fast it's going to be. we're going to get energy from a fall winterlike jet stream bringing in seriously cold air across the midwest right now. that punch is really going to stir this thing into a huge wind storm that could sit around for a couple of days. and that's going to be the main thing here. with that you've got lunar high

tides, unusually high tides, coastal flooding. big-time waves. big-time winds. sensitive trees, and leaves that are still on the trees. that could cause some pouter outages, soledad. i think folks certainly need to prepare for the potential of being maybe without power for a few days to come anywhere up and down this i-95 corridor. >> rob marciano. thank you for that update and that warning. dire. let's get right to john berman a look at other stories making news. >> a colorado teenager has confessed to the abduction and murder of 10-year-old jessica ridgeway. austin reed sigg appeared in a colorado courtroom yesterday. prosecutors say they have dna evidence that lf

with the printing. election officials are duplicating the markings from the bad ballots onto new ballots in order to record the votes. but some are requesting the accuracy of these results. thursday night football the tampa bay buchanan nears mauling the minnesota vikings. the dama 214 total yards. two touchdowns. tampa bay improved their record. the vikings drop to 5-3. windows 8, hits store shelves today. it's microsoft's new operating system that works on both pcs and touchconvenient devices. you can see it. it is drastically different from the windows you see on pcs. it's a big gamble for microsoft as windows is a huge moneymaker and really hasn't changed much since 1995. and apple's ipad mini is now available onliner preorder on apple's website. it unveiled the new tiny tablet earlier this week. the company reported earnings that missed analyst expections, by the way. that does not happen much. >> that's a little bit of a

surprise. back to that voter, the ballots. palm beach county. >> how is it not possible, how did we not -- how can we not solve the voter issue? with technology you're talking about the mini ipad coming out and we're still doing these hand marked -- >> it's all local. and every jurisdiction runs its own voting process. >> but you could bring in technology and still do it lolly. >> we've seen how one county could affeúct a national outco debate. this is outrageous. and to me there should be a level of protest in changing this. we cannot have -- what happens if a county in ohio, i'm in new jersey, but i really care about that because that could end up turning the election. it turns people off. it's a form of voter suppression if you begin to lose confidence in the system. >> so should we have federalized standards? the federal government takes much more control over it. >> needs to be -- just like the federal government got involved in the elections back in my

parents' time there needs to be an elevated conversation about how we're going to make sure voter security, when people don't cast their vote that that vote is counted in the right way. 6>> even the vote right now whh is becoming much more popular. article recently that 25 -- less likely to have your vote counted if you vote by mail than show up on election day. everyone's going towards vote by mail. every time you change something it has a new issue. >> technology it seems like we can do everything, moving massive amounts of money through technology. companies do all of their business through technology. seems insane we cannot figure it out and having someone vote, using the fingerprint, you could trace whether or not they're a citizen, and you could actually positively just make it more clear. it's not brain surgery. just your vote. moving on. and that's my position today! i'm all riled up about this. it's just stupid. how about this, president obama in an interview he gave with rolling stone says this, you know kids have good instincts.

they look at the other guy, he says the other guy when he means governor romney, and he says that's a bull blanker, i can tell. he's paraphrasing for the young people. the romney campaign has been jumping on that. you think that's a big deal? >> what are they jumping on? the fact that he said -- >> i don't have to say the word out loud on my show because my children watch before they head off to school. >> god bless america. seriously, if this is all the roeyampaign has to jump on they're really losing themselves. >> ryan and i were talking in the green room, you have been very consistent, and not taking small issues and blowing them up into larger narratives. i do think there's an interesting conversation here. is there a line between straight talk, which i totally appreciate, and being classy o speaking in a way that is deserving of the office? i'm curious, not as an indictment, but you as someone in a position, is there a line u have to walk? >> i think all of us, whoever we are, forget presidents, all of us who are sitting here on tv, in some ways being looked at by

somebody and you should always watch your language. at some point we're making a bi you know, of people cursing. this is not -- this is not a big deal. >> -- level of -- >> three years of president obama. talk about a model for our nation. somebody we want our kids to look up to. you have president obama, i see children in my city every day looking up to him. so he wrote not the word. he wrote out some blanks. for language that most of our kids by the time they're 6, 7, 8 and 9 are hearing anyway. >> some of them are using. >> what frustrates me about campaigns. -- >> you said it -- >> it was in rolling stone. >> was he said it and they transcribed it? >> he was paraphrasing what young people say. >> what happened was the editor of the magazine said i had my son, who wanted a message for you or something like that and he wants you -- >> this whole issue is horse hockey. it really is. >> the romney campaign had a response i just want to read

that. prent obama is lotled on the defensive, they write. he's running on empty and has nothing left but attacks and insults. it's unfortunate he has to close the final days of this campaign this way. >> that intervw came w before the final days. >> just to be a little bit cynical about it, president obama talking to rolling stone -- >> you know, he's trying to talk to the young people in america. so he's dropping a, you know -- >> a little slip of the tongue. >> -- so he's dropping -- >> romney campaign make a deal out of this shows more weakness in the roey campaign. this is not what we should be focusing oing out. >> am i going to spend my entire show saying this is not what we should be -- >> let's get back to the -- >> not -- >> this is actual news i came to discuss. >> ahead on "starting point." politics, sex, all mixed together in a new ad for the obama campaign from lynna dunham, the girl star. we're going to talk about that. that's straight ahead.

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in her hbo shows girls writer, director and 5b9 res lena din up pla a character who talks about being the voice of her generation. she's trying to do the same thing encouraging young people to vote for president obama. how she's doing it has some people saying it's in bad taste. >> your first time shouldn't be with just anybody. you want to do it with a great guy. it should be with a guy with beautiful, someone who really cares about and understands women. a guy who cares whether you get health insurance. specifically whether you get

birth control. the consequences are huge. my first time voting was amazing. it was this line in the sand. before i was a girl. now i was a woman. i went to the polling ston, pulled back the curtain. i voted for barack obama. >> so i have to say, i don't get the outrage that has come out of this ad. will cain are you offended? >> not offended -- >> it's very -- >> i'm not offended because any kind of taste boundaries, i'm offended as a woman -- i'm offended -- i'm offended -- i think women should be offended that you're reducing the act of voting and the ideological issue that you're debating down to equating it to sex. that you are your body parts. >> i would sayf -- >> -- nice to know didn't care if people cursed. you stood up for your first amendment. >> no, no, no, i get -- taste level. i fully endorse the governor or the mayor's ability to use salty language.

because you were defending it earlier. you are reducing women to their body parts. and it's identity politics. >> so you're offended by lena dunham who writes her show about girls which is all about these 20 somethings, and much about their sexual experiences, and -- >> to this point, one is nobody who has ever voted for me expressed themselves in that way. and it's the power obama has. i do not have -- but more importantly, i am tired of manufacturing outrage. i mean, really -- >> he's outraged. i'm not outraged. >> manufacturing outrage. >> he is not mr. outrage. >> you just said now i'm outraged. you just said as a woman you're outraged. talk about manufactured. >> it is not a big point. this is not what we should be focusing on. it's the same thing, i'm a big fan of sirva silverman, i loved how she was talking to grandmothers in florida and

using her own sense of humor. this was something living likeish- >> i have-ish. >> is this because -- >> it is not a terrible show. the show is so great. what are you talking about? >> oh, gosh. >> because you're not a girl! they don't care what you think of your show because you're not a girl. this show is amazing. i did an interview with lena dunh dunham, i'm going to tweet it out. she's very interesting young woman. >> look. will i agree everybody has a different way to rally their base. she's trying to do that. >> she's using sex. >> -- ran the country the obama campaign wins. that's what happens. >> i have got to go to commercial break. seriously. ahead on "starting point" this morning. the dramatic story of paul ryan's hometown. 11,000eople outf o work when a gm plant closed there. new documentary tt they've been shooting since 2008 documents what exactly did happen in janesville, wisconsin.

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>>it's a new documentary about paul ryan's hometown ofwisconsi the story of what exactl years when the gm assembly plant there shut down. nearly 11,000 people lost their jobs. among them, gail lisenbee who worked at the company for 12 years. >> you are not going to find too many jobs on the assembly labor, even with quality control that are going to be giving you more than $9 an hour. >> did you hear her say it sounded like $9 an hour? it would take four jobs to make at least 11.

you would have to work four full-time jobs. >> the film maker of "as goes janesville" joins us this morning. tell me a little bit about why you wanted to attack this will story. you really started many years ago, before we were actually talking about janesville, which has been in the news. >> before we knew about paul ryan. i wanted to make a film about that economic crisis we were all facing. i knew that there were documentaries and people talking about what happened. i wanted to show what real people were going through and see how they reinvent their lives and reinvent their economy. i felt that was the story that we needed to know. >> tell me about that woman we were just looking at. is her story very typical? good disappeared and there's no way to make up for that. there's no other job that you can just run out and go get and ever hope to get the same amount of money. >> right. she was one of the gm workers making up wds to $29, $30 an hour. there's nothing like that around. she and 750 people left town to go work at other plants that

were still open. they took transfers. and she ends up leaving her two middle school daughters and her husband behind, and she's like so many people who were transplanted in that way. >> you've seen this film. what stuck out to you about it? >> what stuck out to me is that you see upclose. you actually show the sort of transition that our economy is going through everywhere. these people with great union jobs, high paid, good benefits, are suddenly thrust into entirely e newironment and as we saw in that clip, they go -- they can't find something similar. one woman get fired by gm and her union gets her job back because they have some bargaining power with the company. to me, that was what you showed up close, is just literally on the screen, you see the story of how our economy has changed. >> is it a political film? >> it's a political film but not rtan film. i also followed a woman who is a banker in town, leading an effort with other businesses,

conservative aery in line with governor scott walker and also a democrat who ends up going to illinois when the collective bargaining controversy happens and actually tries to negotiate a deal between the governor and the democrats, but fails. and you see that when we have a phone call from a guy who was posing as a fake -- a -- says i wouldn't talk to my guy because he's a pragmatist, just trying to get something done. he's not a conservative. >> why is this so common but so unknown? so many americans are struggling making job. sometimes they're taking two jobs and not making ends meet. >> we have become very obsessed about numbers, look at gdp, unemployment. a lot of people have the feeling once that perpendicular loses the job, something changes in their life, we hear about that moment but don't go on to see the impact it has on families and the whole population shift

as people try to chase decent jobs. >> two thumbs up for your documentary called "as goes janesville." >> so goes rica. >> discounted rate. thank you for joining us and thanks to mayor booker for joining us for the hour. [ male announcer ] citi turns 200 this year.

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our "starting point" this morning, bracing for a dangerous storm. hurricane sandy is barreling toward the united states after killing at least 21 people in the caribbean and now the east coast is preparing for what could be a super storm. tragedy and horror, mother returns home to her apartment, finds her two young children have been stabbed to death. police say the nanny is the one responsib

responsible. controversy this morning over a romney campaign adviser's comment. here is what he said. >> when you take a look at colin powell, you have to wonder whether that's an endorsement based on issues. >> or maybe his race. i'll finish the thought for him. it's friday, october 26th. "starting point" begins right now. morning. welcome, everybody. our team this morning, ryan lizza is with us washington correspondent for the new yorker, richard socradies. heavy on the new yorker on this panel today. also former senior adviser to president clinton. >> yes, thank you. >> will cain is a columnist at blaze.com. john berman from "early start" sticking around to help us out with the news. storm with epic proportions could be headed our way. people are being told to take action, this rare complex atmospheric circumstances taking place that could cass a super storm. 11 people dead in cuba.

hurricane rear viipping off roo. even though it's several days away from hitting the east coast, sand bagging has started as far north as new jersey. rob marciano is live in the cnn weather center for us. >> memories of hurricane ien aye reason certainly are fresh for new england, back through the appalachians. this storm will be tracking that way. national hurricane center, 80-mile-an-hour winds. it has come up a couple of millibars, starting to transform its characteristics a little bit and expand itself. that's what we expect to be the main threat going forward. most of the clouds and convection are, 200 miles off the coast of florida. it has slowed down a little bit. northwesterly at about 10 miles an hour, about 480 miles to the south of charleston, south carolina. here is the forecast track for the national hurricane center. this has not changed. it's pretty much going to parallel the coastline of a

category 1 storm or thereabouts. huge waves are expected over the weekend from cape hatt. ras down to florida. 30, 40 footers possibly. coastal flooding and beach erosion. then the turn back toward the northwest -- northeast, i should say, coastline there. monday, tuesday, wednesday timeframe. you say category 1, we've had worse. it's going to be a larger storm. the wind field will expand to have tropical storm force winds that could be 700 miles across. so basically boston to d.c. could be the area of extent here. it could sit arounfor a while as well. that's the problem with ts something th we haven't really seen impact like this we saw the perfect storm in 1991. that stayed offshore. this is sort of that combination, but it looks like it wants to come on shore. that means some big trouble. soledad? >> rob marciano, it always worries me when meteorologists say we haven't seen something like this. they're looking at a strike of monday to make landfall.

let's turn to a heartbreaking story we've been following this morning. a mother comes home to her apartment in new york city, finds that two of her three young children have been stabbed to death. police are now saying it was the nanny that killedhem and then stabbed herself. deb feyerick has been following this for us. horrific story. happened in new york city zblfr parent can understand why this is so tragic, every family. going through pictures and entries on the mom's blog. a happy, tight-knit young family. why did the nanny apparently snap and do something as terrible as police allege? the nanny is in ccar arrest. she's not yet been charged but the parents, arin and kevin krim, devastated. 38-year-old marina krim returned from a swiing lesson with her youngest. the apartment was dark and she found 6-year-old lar-old leo st

times. the nanny on the floor, kitchen knife next to her. police say she slashed her own throat. neighbors called 911 after hearing the mother's distraught screams. the father was met at the airport by police and taken to a new york hospital where his children were pronounced dead. the mom kept a blog calling it life with the krim kids. you look at the photos of these children. they're happy had. they're smiling, living a life near central park, gone pumpkin picking and she writes, i'm very proud that the three kids absolutely love to play together and never seem to get bored at home. they're constantly thinking up fun things to do in the house. and soledad, what resonates about this story is the leap of faith that parents take when ids to somebody else. reports say the family only hired this nanny after the third son -- or after the third child, a son, was born. they did so carefully. >> why? what's the why? why would the nay, clearly who has been with the family roughly -- the baby was 2 years old. say approximately two years she

has been working with the family. they had gone to the dominican republic where she's from, right? they were extra close with their nanny. what happened? >> yeah. that's the question. what happened? i mean, this is the older child. this is 6-year-old lulu. that's the little boy. he just turned 2. but what strikes you is that the children just -- they look so happy. she's blogging about what a wonderful family they are, about her husband, about all these great things that are happening. what was going on in the nanny's psyche? look, they could have done a background check, criminal check, could have asked for references. one thing that is the wild card that you never, never know is what is going on in somebody's head and what personal issue th they, themselves, may be wrestling with. we as moms, we as dads, we as parents all know what that's about. >> what resonates about this story, it's a parents take. i have two children the same age. i live in the same neighborhood. the truth is what scares you so much is that everyone can prepare for the bad guy to some

exte, the outside coming in. what's so terrify inging is the inside going wrong, the trust you put into someone taking care of your children and it turns. this is -- >> absolutely. it could be a babysitter, anybody. you're right. that's what's so scary. >> deb feyerick, thank you for the update. what a terrible story to have to be digging into this morning. other stories making news as well. john berman has a look at that. malala yousafzai, the teenager shot in the head by the taliban, is being reunited with her parents. malala's father calling her everyone's daughter. she is in a birmingham hospital, recovering. she can stand now. malala has become a symbol of courage for her risking her life by demanding@ equal education r girls in pakistan. george mcgovern will be laid no rest in sioux falls, south dakota. the senator and former presidential candidate died

earlier this week. mcgovern gave him the courage to run for office, john mccain said. prosecutors asked the judge to impose a gag order on his case, charged with secondary murder for the shooting death of trayvon martin. prosecution will argue that mmermas lawyer, mark o'meara has been using a website to influence potential jurors. hope some home cooking will help them back into the world series, down two games to none after being shut out by the san francisco giants last night. prince fielder, lumbering around third, being thrown out at home base. probably should have stayed at third base.w game three, tomorrow night at comerica park tomorrow night. >> he's so mad. >> i think he was mad he wa sent home >> prince fielder coming around the corner, coach. >> exactly. just 11 days till th election new polls show that swing state races are too close to call in many cases.

president obamas had a three-pot within the sampling error there. colorado is an out-and-out e. virginia, governor romney is up, within the percent of error. back in d.c. after finishing his whirl wind tour of swing states, stop in illinois where he cast his vote, complete with his i.d. check. take that, donald trump. >> probably photo i.d. >> it had to beuf some kind of photo i.d. >> he didn't show his transcripts either. >> that's true. i take that back. >> don't laugh, will cain. that was a crazy moment when he did that. anyway, the governor is set to give a major economic speech today that's going to happen in the state of iowa after he was spending time yesterday in the state of ohio. pete sessions is a congressman from texas, national campaign committee which supports republicans in races for the house. it's nice to see you, sir. thank you so much for talking with us.

>> god morning, soledad. >> what's your take away from the pos? it looks like it's very, very tight, especially in those swing states. >> well, my takeaway is -- i've been to about 40 congressional districts that includes some states that you mentioned, and i believe that mitt romney and paul ryan are playing well. i believe the president stillta talk about taxes. women are concerned about taking care of their families, gasoline ices, food prices and we need jobs. republicans are doing well. i think we'll end up winning those tight races. >> let's talk about endorsements. there's a bunch to talk about. let's start with general colin powell. he endorsed president obama and also in the same sentence, frankly, criticized governor romney. i'm going to play a little bit about what he said. >> not only am i comfortable with what governor romney is proposing for his economic plan, i have concerns about his use of

foreign policy. the governor, who was speaking on monday night at the dough bait was saying things that were quite different from what he said earlier. i'm not quite sure which governor romney we would be getting with re policy. >> what was your take on -- also, i would like to know your sense of the impact of that endorsement from general powell. >> well, first of all, the former chairman of the joint chiefs, which he is, and the former admiral mullens have both had the same job and admiral mullens says the greatest threat to america is our debt. our debt still is our greatest impact. and general powell is a friend of mine, friend of my family's. great american. i believe that colin powell probably is missing the link, and that is americans are having problems finding work. we cannot find work. we're 23 million people who are unemployed or underemployed and we need jobs in this country. we cannot be strong or have a

strong foreign policy if we continue the tax and spending that president obama chooses to load this country down that path. >> do you think he's supporting president obama because he's black and theresident is black? >> you know, i think that president obama is a person who has a great relationship with a number of people. colin powell does, too. i think colin powell is a fine american, a great leader and sees things in president obama that he agrees with. he's entitled to have his opinion. i do not think it's because -- >> that is not my question. i raise it not -- of course, as you well know, governor sununu son why he believed colin powell was supporting president obama. i'll play a little bit of what governor sununu told piers morgan last night. >> frankly when you take a lock at colin powell you have to worpd if that's an endorsement based on issues or whether he's got a slightly different reason for preferring president obama.

>> what reason would that be? >> well, i think when you have somebody of your own race that your proud of being president of the united states, i applaud colin for standing with him. >> so he's saying, you're proud of him, someone of your own race. sounds like he's saying, he's black, i'm black, that's what colin powell is thinking as he gives his support to president obama. my question to you is, do you think the same thing? >> i think you would have to ask colin powell. i support mitt romney. you could say that i endorse mitt romney, but that's not just because i'm a wohite man. we all have things which we're for, which we support. colin powell believes the president is heading down the right path. i simply disagree on this issue with colin powell. let's go to the real point of this. that is both these candidates, mitt romney and president obama have had a chance to sell what they bloelieve to the country. on the house side we're doing the same. as chairman of the national republican committee, i'm

responsible for house races, our candidates and performances. i think we're doing a great job. we have african-american, matter of fact, haitian american candidate doing a good job. downtown in new york, new york city out on the island, probably going to win his race. richardtesei in massachusetts, a man who will win -- a republican in massachusetts. this is the kind of strength that the house republicans have, as we talk about the issues of growing jobs and making america stronger. it's looking at two different worlds, one where we'll grow our economy or one where we'll continue down the path of house andspending. that's why house republicans are winning and i think mitt romney can do the same. >> pete sessions, republican from texas, thank you for talking with us. >> thank you so much. >> you bet. rocky mountain high.

we are live on the ground with miguel marquez in colorado as we continue our tour through those critical swing states. we'll get another snapshot of how the economy is doing in 20 minutes from now when the latest gdp numbers are going to be released. you see us, at the start of the day. on the company phone list that's a few names longer. you see us bank on busier highways. on once empty fields. everyday you see all the ways all of us at us bank are helping grow our economy. lending more so companies and communities can expand, grow stronger and get back to work. everyday you see all of us serving you, around the country, around the corner. us bank.

morning. welcome back, everybody. colorado is one of eight crucial swing states that the obama and romney campaigns are fighting to the finish. this morning, cnn's miguel marquez is in golden, colorado, taking the pulse of the voters there. >> reporter: here we are, rocky mountain hig in golden, colorado. this is jefferson county, one of the most competitive counties in this state. both campaigns are working this county very hard. that's because as little as

20,000 or 30,000 votes across the entire state of colorado could paint this state red or blue. that's as little a 1% of the overall votes statewide. so this is always the scariest bit of this, isn't it? >> tirhe f step is always the hardest. >> reporter: spencer hennigan has run adventure trips for two years. so this is the office? >> true. >> reporter: not a bad office. >> i like it. >> reporter: starting with four guides, he now has20. this year, the company's biggest, 3,000 trips, everything from rappelling to back country skiing. the business has expanded, he says, by keeping prices low and taking advantage of home. what do you hope for the next qur years? >> that we can raise the bar for equal pay. the more that we can feel inclusion in this state. >> reporter: while some have weathered the recession well, colorado continues to struggle. the unemployment rate across the

state, about 8%. here in jefferson county, it's about 7.4, just a little better. this is the new restaurant. >> this is it. >> reporter: the nunez family, all ten of them, pitching in on a new venture, a family restaurant. the restaurant's draw, authentic cuisine, prepared by gloria nunez, who moved here from mexico city when she was 21. how many recipes are in your head? >> i don't know. night aye never count. >> reporter: now 74, she is known as grandma. what do you hope to see in the next few years? >> well, i think onef the most important things is the economy to go up a little. >> reporter: now the restaurant is run out of a strip mall. soon new building, liquor license and as many as 15 new employees. but this family is still agonizing over which candidate is best for the future. what makes this area so competitive? >> as you consider the numbers in terms of how the hispanic population is growing, not only here, but across the country, we

have an important voice. >> reporter: latinos, business owners and newer residents ready to deliver nine electoral votes. they could decide who takes the white house. most people here in colorado have made up their minds, been through three debates. door knocks to their doors every day or several times a day and lots of letters to the post -- through the post. there's a new poll out. all tied up here. it's been like that for months here in colorado. president obama is coming back to the states next week to colorado springs. that's conservative territory there. apparently trying to win some voters back there or at least stop the romney momentum in those areas where he's going to get big votes here. >> miguel marquez for us. we have seen miguel hiking we have seen miguel roller skating. >> roller derby. >> milking cows. >> milking cows.

>> that was my favorite. >> we did like the cows the best, i think, that shot under the cow. the next stop is in washo county in nevada, a sliver of a county in the northwest corner. >> where we'll find him at the black jack tables. >> yeah, that's right. he will be gambling. >> the romney campaign is -- >> are we right about that, miguel? we'll check in with him on tuesday. ugh gig, but someone's got to do it. ayquil, but i still have a runny nose. [ male announcer ] truth is, dayql doesn't work on runny noses. what? [ male announcer ] it doesn't have an antihistamine. really? [ male announcer ] really. alka-seltzer plus cold and cough fights your worst cold symptoms, plus has a fast acting antihistamine to relieve your runny nose. [ sighs ] thank you! [ male announcer ] you're welcome. that's the cold truth! [ le announcer ] alka-seltzer plus. ♪ oh what a relief it is! ♪ [ male aouncer ] try new alka-seltzer plus severe allergy to treat allergy symptoms, plus sinus congestion, and pain.

welcome back. still ahead on "starting point" with we'll take a look at how healthy the economy is. woel bring you the latest gdp numbers as they are coming in. and they say it's good luck.

>> giants were in the world series in 1989 versus the oakland a's. >> okay. oh, my god! oh! >> yep. she's in hysterics, because a bird has just pooped on her co-anchor. >> ever happen to you? >> never. thank god. some other things have happened, though. i can share with you later. >> wow! that's a tease. >> that's a tease. >> we're back in a moment. s on s s on s and more... on what matters? maybe your bank account is taking too much time and maybe it's costing too much money. introducing bluebird by american express and walmart. your alternative to checking and debit. it's loaded with features, not fees. because we think your money should stay where it belongs. with you. the value you expect. the service you deserve. it feels good to bluebird. get it at your local walmart.

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welcome back, everybody. you're watching "starting point." we're waiting r those gdp number the last three months, which should show us the healt of the economy ahow fast the economy is growing. the chief economist at economist magazine. god to have you with us. we know of a survey of economists, they were predicting that the number would be something like 1.7.

we know that the previous quarter was 1.3. give me a sense of exactly what this number is and if it is in that range, while we wait these numbers, what does it mean? >> sure. the numbers is how fast the economy is going. 1.3%, which is the amount the economy was growing in the second quarter of the year is pretty slow. not recession but unbelievably slow recovery. when we're looking for and the expectation is that that is accelerating a little bit but still a pretty slow economy, 1.3, 1.7. if it's not accelerated, it's bad news. if the number is higher, that's pretty good news as we come into a period of huge uncertainty about the fiscal cliff it's important to know where it is right now. >> gdp looks specifically at consumer spending, right, specifically at housing as well. >> gdp is the over -- >> they just gave me the number. it is at 2%. >> slightly better than

expected. >> we know that cnn money had surveyed economists and predicted 1.7. the number is actually 2%, up from 1.3%. how do you feel about that number? >> you know, it's better. 1.3 was really very slow. this is the pace that the overall economy is growing. it's everything in the economy put ther, how fast is it growing. by historical signs, 2% is not great but it's a heckative lot better than 1.3%. >> does this suggest anything about the unemployment numbers which we're going to see next friday, just three days before the election? >> i suspect it suggests continued slow job growth, continued growth. i think the economy is expanding. it's growing. it's not a very -- it's not a great expansion. ta's not booming. i think it's going in the right direction. i suspect that will show up in the unemploymetoo. >> just politically between romney and obama, it is hard to beat an incumbent in a growing economy, even if it's growing at this middling pace of 2%. this means that for all the talk about how bad the economy is and what a tough job oama has winning re-election, historically, if you're an

incumbent in a growing economy, you should be able to get re-elected. >> let's talk about what the gdp includes before that number came in. that number is 2%, to reiterate to everybody who is watching. consumer spending and housing. we know we've had lots of conversations that housing is improving and getting stronger. at the same time, corporate earnings kind of stuck. what's the big takeaway? >> the gdp is basically a measure of all the growth in the economy. consumer spending, investment, government spending, exports. you actually take away imports. that's when you're getting things from abroad. biggest component is consumer spending, by far the most important component. how consumers are feeling, how much they're spending is a huge driver of at happens to gdp. the housing is a big part because it's quite volatile. traditionally, recoveries in the u.s. have been led by housing. people start spending more on housing, it also means they start spending more to put in their homes. both of those are important factors. government spending is -- if you're in a period like worry

now where we're trying to cut government spending, that's a drag. state and local governments have been laying off teachers, been lay i laying off people. that's a drag on gdp. i think in terms of what's going to be the driver going forward, it's going to be consumer spending, exports, investment and housing. >> the gdp coming in at 2% growth rate in the third quarter, which is a number a little bit higher than some economists were predicting, the analysis from cnn money came in at 1.7%. somebody said -- i think it was some economists saying that the sales of the iphone 5 alone could actually sort of move the needle. this one particular consumer good. >> report that -- >> is that -- >> socradies. >> now he's just bragging. is that true maybe? >> it could well be true. there was an actual huge explosion. i tend to look at what are the broad drivers of gdp?

quarter by quarter lots of things can make a difference. to get this recovery going in the short term we need the housing recovery to be for real and to really take off. >> we're growing at 2%. what happens when the fiscal cliff hits december 31st? >> that is a real risk. >> will we be back into negative territory? >> this package of automatic spending cuts and tax increases that will hit at the end of this year if nothing is done in congress. >> is it having an affect already? >> it's having an affect on businesses already. businesses have to plan ahead. companies are worried about huge cuts to their contracts next year. people who are thinking about hiring, are you going to hire the next few people? you're going to wait to see what happens. that uncertainty does hangover businesses. it is having an affect. it will have a much bigger effect if we go over it and it stays. >> zanny beddoes, thank you for crunching the numbers in real time as they came in. the perfect storm is what they're calling it. bearing down on the east coast of the united states, hurricane sandy. it's already killed 21 people in the caribbean. it's now threatening millions of

people from virginia all the way up to new england. right now sandcy moving northwest at about 150 miles off the coast of south flchlt it's looking more and more likely that the northeast is going to be the place that's hd hit hard early next week. let's get right to meteorologist rob marciano in the extreme weather center in atlanta for us. hi, rob. >> hey, soledad. the wind field with sandy is continuing to grow. not necessarily strengthening. we don't anticipate that in the next 24 hours but it's changing nechlter movemt at 10 miles per hour, 80-mile-per-hour winds. wind-driven rain and waves off the coast of florida. carolinas will see huge waves, possibly 30 or 40 footers over the weekend. it stays off the coast. as it gets through the bahamas this morning, makes the turnaround north carolina sunday into monday and then this turn to the left that we've been discussing as a possibility is looking more and more likely. the question is, what shape is sandy in and what does this incoming cold front -- remember,

we're into fall now. that strong jet stream, what kind of energy does it give it to wind it up even more? our computer models are really doing a number on this thing as far as making it a big storm with a hu wind field. the wind field of damaging winds could be 400 or 500 miles wide. you're talking about massive amounts of power outages. lunar high tide as well. coastal flooding will be an issue. on the back side of this will be snow as well. things are a little bit more certain. although not 100% certain this morning. more confident there's going to be a huge impact storm with this system come monday, tuesday and wednesday of next week. >> wow! that looks like just a big mess. i'm sure it will be all that we're talking about at the start of next week. thank you, rob. appreciate it. john berman has a look at the other headlines this morning. >> shocking story in new york city, a police officer has been charged in a gruesome plot to kidnap, rape women and then cook and eat them.

the 28-year-old cop is accused of accessing a national crime database to locate potential victims. he is being held bail. nationwide fungal meningitis outbreak has killed 24 and sickened hundreds of others. patients who received potentially tainted injections, 98% have been reached for follow-up visits. windows 8 hits the store shelves today, microsoft's new operating system that works on pcs and touch screen devices. it look s drastically different. big gamble for microsoft as windows is a huge money maker and hasn't changed much since 1995. apple's ipad minni is online for preorder on apple's website. the company also reported earnings that missed analyst's expectations. does not happen a lot with

apple. >> gas prices have been falling for 15 straight days. national average for a gallon is $3.58. aaa expects gas prices to continue to fall the next few weeks. only fill up half a tank when you get to the station next time ca to get better. anything can happen on live tv. trust me. watch this. a bird decided to play target practice with a sacramento anchor during a world series report. >> in 1989 the giants were in the world series versus the oakland a's. >> okay. oh, my gosh! oh! >> ktxl says it didn' just hit his suit. he got pelted in the face, too. that is charming. said he always wanted to be a viral sensation. so now mission accomplished. >> i love the support from his co-anchor. she's just there for him. >> what do you do?

>> after doubling over in laughter she did help to wipe it off. >> forng to tell us about what happened to you? >> i certainly wasn't pooped on from a bird but have kicked people in the face from a live shot truck. >> lots of things happen out there in california. >> see? >> birds, kicking. >> that's a long story for another day. politics and sex mixed up t ad. >> you want to do it with a great guy. >> some people say it crosses the line of god taste. will and i will debate that straight ahead. people really love snapshot from progressive, but don't just listen to me. listen to these happy progressive customers. i plugged in snapshot, and 30 days later, i was saving big on car insurance.

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it's america'schoice, 2012. welcome back. presidential polls, dead heat. lots of talk about an october surprise, which could mean different things to different people. donald trump kind of thought he had an october surprise. that was the most nonsurprising alleged surprise ever. let's bring in howie kurtz, host of cnn, and also the daily beast and editor in chief daily download. >> thank you. >> let start with donald trump. remember the run-up to the announcement, it's going to be shocking. >> going to be huge.

>> everyone should gather around their television. here is how it went. yawn. >> if barack obama opens up and gives his college records and applications and gives his passport applications and records, i will give to a charity of his choice, inner city children in chicago, american cancer society, aids research, anything he wants, a check immediately -- >> stop it. mediately. blah, blah, blah. make it go away. my ear drums are bleeding. stop. >> but the media love it. >> see, you're doing just what everyone in the media does. they show it and say oh, this is terrible. >> exactly. >> dead to me. ryan lizza, dead to me. i'm sorry, i can't hear you ryan. go ahead. >> when i saw that, it looked like a ""saturday night live" skit, donald trump.

it didn't look like the real donald trump. >> i was talking to a washington post analyst, and he was k cackling like th is going to be great. i can't wait. >> this is what i call the clown campaign. one ring you have donald trp, ridiculous stunt and over here you have ann coulter calling the president a retard and over here you and -- >> and lena dunham. >> making an analogy sex. any serious discuss of issues. >> i'm saying bs. >> no, bs. >> is any thoughtful conversation? >> i don't think so. you can go to the super pac app, "new york times" politic ticker, anywhere you want and get substantive information. >> i take howie's side in this debate. >> boys against girls?

give me a break. >> it's outrage. the the media has the ability to set the naive. your point that we can find substantive information is true. my questiothen, howie, for you is this. why are whoa taken by binders, big birds and bayon dets? why do we run without having a conversation about due process, drones or drug wars? >> i'm told to stop. >> by the way, the foreign policy debate on monday lasted 24 hours in the media coverage and nobody else cared about it. >> it lasted. it was there. >> let me answer his question, if i might. >> hey you may. >> we're all chasing clicks and ratings. it's more than that. this stuff is easy. it's cotton candy. it's fun. exploring the two campaigns on medicare is a little more heavy lifting. >> here is what i would add to that. isn't it also what people are talking about? like are regular folks are talking about big bird.

people watching the debate -- it didn't just happen that the media brought this conversation forward. in fact, on twitter, the thing went viral immediately. the bayonets and whatever. aren't we following what the people are talking about versus creating the - defining the talking points and creating what people a talking about, will cain? >> you're wrong, will. binders was a legitimate issue and big bird was legitimate. >> one word. >> that's very different than some of the stuff is also we had a very substantive conversation for a long time. we've talked about a lot of important issues. >> where did they go? >> now we're down to the last 11 day days. >> we are down to the last 11 days. >> lena dunham's ad. i am a fan of her show. you and i had a fight about that a moment ago. >> it's a horrible show. >> shhh. let's play that clip of lena. >> the first time shouldn't just be with anybody.

it should be with a guy with beautiful -- somebody who really cares about and understands women, a guy who cares whether you get health insurance, specifically whether you get birth control. the consequences a hue. my first time voting was amazing. it was this line in the sand. before i was a girl. now i was a woman. i went to the polling station, pulled back the curtain. and i voted for barack -- >> you could argue that what she's raising -- in the beginning she's doing this whole, the first time. then the music goes up and her whole point is for young women like me, birth control and abortion and et cetera, et cetera, is important and this is why i'm choosing this candidate, right? isn't that substantive? >> it's a very clever ad, aimed at a certain demographic. >> aimed to the lowest common denominator. >> no, it's not. i don't think so. >> when i first heard about it, i thought it was controversial. and when i saw it -- it did feel a gap in the komplg here, which there has b right?

>> there hasn't. >> we have 11 days still, though, to get a good sex scandal in. no? >> not going to get it from mitt romney. >> it's a matter of proporon. plenty of time to do the fun stuff. >> gloria alred try to do it, put mitt romney in some sort of divorce. none of it made sense. >> there's no scandal. we've got 11 days. it will be very deep. people reading about it, everybody's five-point we can go to their apps and websites and there's debates about medicare. young women can decide who they're going to vote for in terms of birth control, blah, blah, blah. to supply affordable, cleaner energy, while protecting our environment. across america, these technologies protect air - ...protect water - through conservation and self-contaed recycling systems... ... and protect land - by reducing our footprt and respecting wildlife. america's natural gas...

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light on the top 2012 cnn heroes. this week's hero grew up in a south african slum in the post apartheid era. his name is thulani madondo and this is his story. >> it has not changed. there is no electricity. people are living in shacks. growing up in klipton makes you feel like you don't have control over your life. many children drop out of school because they don't have school uniforms and textbooks. i realizhat e te only way that klipton could change ws through education. i'm thulani madondo and helping to educate children so we can change klipton together.

we help the children by paying for their school books, school uniforms. our main focus is our tutoring program that we run four days a week. we know the challenges of this community. we also do a number of activities. we've got to come together for fun while you also come together for our community. >> this program gave me a chance to go to university. they also paid for my fees. a little can go a long way. >> science and english. exactly. right. >> i did not go to university. when able to help them, i feel excited. >> i am going to be an accoun >> i am going to be a lawyer. >> i am going to be a nurse. >> the work that you're doing here is bringing change.

>> "end point" is up next. president obama: there's just no quit in america... and you're seeing that right now. over five million new jobs. exports up forty one percent. home values... ring. our auto industry... back. and our heroes are coming home. we're not there yet, but we've made real progress and the... last thing we should do is turn back now. here's my plan for the nexfour years: making education and training a national priority; building on our manufacturing boom;

boosting american-made energy; reducing the deficits responsibly by cutting where... we can, and asking t wealthy to pay a little more. and ending the war in afghanistan, so can... do some nation-building here at home. that's the right path. so read my plan, compare it to governor romney's... and decide which is better for you. it's an honor to be your president... and i'm asking for your vote... si'm barack obama and i approve athis message.d.

millions of people voted early. if you're one of them, we want to hear from you. send us a picture of yourself, tell us why you voted, who you voted for, why you decided to vote early. take a picture of yourself in front of your house or your business, something that defines who you are so we can learn more about you. these voter graphs on the show and online. go to cnn.com/startingpoint. or tweet us at @startintcnn. > whopping four

votes, new hampshire, four. second time in two weeks wiechlt is he going? because this election could be that close. >> interesting. >> you could see a tie. >> electoral college of new hampshire, could be tied. >> every other crazy thing in politics the last decade. why not a tie that goes to the house of reen happen, we could e a president romney and a vice president biden. >> you will likely have that. >> if the parties voted as you would think they would vote. presidents by state delegation and the senate votes for vice president, one is controlled by the republicans, the other is controlled by the democrats. imagine a romney/biden presidency. >> that would be really awesome. >> i think they would work so well. >> in so many ways, right? just in terms of coverage, yes. happy.l ryan wouldn't be too to be more serious about this, the election is very close. i agree w